On many occasions in my early career, serious people wrote me off as some kind of hysterical "activist" for arguing that social media types like Beattie had become more important than any other conservative media. I hope we all accept that as conventional wisdom now that they're running the place. - ThreadSky

jaredlholt.bsky.social • 11 days ago

On many occasions in my early career, serious people wrote me off as some kind of hysterical "activist" for arguing that social media types like Beattie had become more important than any other conservative media. I hope we all accept that as conventional wisdom now that they're running the place.

Reposted from Jacob Ware

"Working as an anti-extremism researcher for the last decade, I’ve encountered thousands of people who think and speak just like Beattie. But they’re usually found in cliques across the internet’s expanse, not in ... the State Dept." - @jaredlholt.bsky.social www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Comments

danifroom.bsky.social•11 days ago

Yeah, framing Beattie as an outlier - which even this article tries to do - is useless, because the only difference between him and the average Trumpist is he's just louder about what they all believe.

webrant.bsky.social•11 days ago

We can correctly identify them as fascists now who exploited social media for attention and manipulation.

As they become Trump's tools for destruction.

https://bsky.app/profile/jaredlholt.bsky.social/post/3lhyg66qtpk2i

chadzo.bsky.social•10 days ago

Liberty or Death-

roundsparrow.bsky.social•11 days ago

"some kind of hysterical "activist" for arguing that social media types like Beattie had become more important than any other conservative media"

#MediaEcologyCrisis your colleagues never heard of Marshall McLuhan? Neil Postman? I've been a pro in social media since 1984, are they all young?

noahreid.bsky.social•11 days ago

it seems like hard line psychotic right wingers have been oozing closer toward the mainstream for my entire adult life before finally breaking through. yeah we have to accept this now, but maybe we also have to do a little extrapolating. is there an ideological end point here short of mass murder?

viraldonutz.bsky.social•11 days ago

Somebody forced the Beattie hire for specifically this reason, to keep Rubio et al in check.

jeffholiday.bsky.social•11 days ago

Funnily enough it was some of your work among others that helped me pivot away from Anti-SJW attitudes while my contemporaries were branding you an extremist.

jsquiggles23.bsky.social•11 days ago

How can anyone be “extreme even by MAGA standards” at this point? They’re Nazis.

amandacarpenter.bsky.social•11 days ago

I’ve observed it’s become commonplace to refer to them as “MAGA intellectuals” now…

poorlyevolved.bsky.social•11 days ago

So glad I started paying attention to you in the early days, Jared. Thanks for all the work you've been doing on this.

ricosuavejd.bsky.social•11 days ago

Downside - a lot of 'serious' people that said such things still don't appear to actually realize how bad the situation is.

One might even say they're really not all that serious.

jaredlholt.bsky.social•11 days ago

This isn't a football-spike "I was right" post. (OK, maybe a little bit). Every researcher/journalist I knew at the time faced the same hurdles. It was an uphill struggle, but many of us saw it through. Now, after all of that, I'm alarmed to see publications giving up on this line of beat reporting.

katieryall.bsky.social•11 days ago

Spike the life right outta the ball

chroniclingrwe.bsky.social•11 days ago

I think it’s important to say “You dismissed me before and I was right, so you may want to listen to me now.”

dibbitydop.bsky.social•11 days ago

OK, sure. But wasn't Biden extreme?

goodthingsliker.bsky.social•11 days ago

An 80 year old white Christian man with a law degree who spent 50 years in the senate during which he shepherded through Clarence Thomas’s nomination before being VP for 8 years was not extreme, no, that is not correct. In fact Biden was generally conservative his entire career.

dibbitydop.bsky.social•11 days ago

That's bad, yes. But I was thinking of Ukraine, Israel, corruption, militant transgenderism, censorship, COVID vaccine fanaticism.

goodthingsliker.bsky.social•11 days ago

Saying words in a string is different from making arguments. Explain what you mean by each of the things you’re “thinking of.”

dibbitydop.bsky.social•11 days ago

> https://google.com

gilliandn.bsky.social•11 days ago

Jared, in my country I've seen the most blatantly racist, lgbtq-hating and crazy conspiracytheorists from Twitter (some who even used to be your typical far-right anonymous rage accounts) climb up to some of the highest government and media positions.

I warned for years, know exactly how it feels.

jaredlholt.bsky.social•11 days ago

We can already see how moving off the beat has weakened news orgs. There were some great stories after Beattie's appointment, but many more that casted him as a "MAGA intellectual" or "controversial conservative." That doesn't even being to describe a guy like Beattie. It's a disservice to readers.

sybilltrelawney.bsky.social•11 days ago

MAGA Intellectual is an oxymoron. And even if it weren’t, anyone who claims that ANYTHInG can only be run by “competent white men” can’t be called an intellectual.

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